Last week I traveled to India for the first time.

I spent a week in Bengaluru, where I joined as a mentor at a two-day Hacker House leading up to the first Arweave Day India on April 26.

I have followed the Arweave community in India for a while. I had interacted with builders online, but this was my first chance to meet them in person. It was a special experience to connect with new faces, share ideas, and learn directly from the Arweave India team and the Hacker House participants.

Here are a few reflections on the trip, and what we can learn about building local communities for the permaweb.

One week in Bengaluru

Bengaluru (Bangalore) is India’s tech capital. Many of the country’s leading IT firms and global tech companies are based there. The Arweave Day venue, Bengaluru Science Gallery, offered a welcoming environment that merged academic, technical, and cultural energy in a way that felt aligned with the mission of the permaweb.

A tech-forward culture

Outside of the event, I was struck by how tech-forward India is.

Despite being a developing country with clear infrastructure and economic inequality challenges, there is a strong optimism about technology. In Web3 specifically, communities like Solana Superteam have a significant presence. I was also surprised to learn that the Helium Network is used by many as an alternative to traditional mobile providers.

Another standout is UPI (Unified Payments Interface), a national digital payments system that consolidates multiple bank accounts into one app. It enables seamless money transfers and is widely adopted across social classes, including by people who do not have access to credit cards.

Coming from Germany, a country that is more developed but much more cautious with tech adoption, this was eye-opening. While physical infrastructure in India may lag behind, the digital layer is thriving. It is accessible, fast-moving, and open.

Sam Williams, in his Arweave Day keynote, referenced this digital egalitarianism. “Billionaires may stay in different hotels,” he said, “but they pay the same Spotify subscription as me and you.” I kept thinking about that. In India, many people may not have much, but nearly everyone has a phone, internet access, and the tools to participate in the next wave of computing. This is encouraging for growing a tech community.

How Arweave India built a grassroots community

Arweave India started with a small group of permaweb believers. They saw an opportunity to introduce new ideas to a tech-hungry culture and followed through, first with meetups, then with multi-day Hacker Houses, and now with a fully independent event.

Out of these early Hacker Houses came real projects that continue to grow: Orbit, BetterIDEA, Arlink, and more.

The format works because it combines collaboration and competition, and because it creates a path forward with funding, mentorship, and ongoing community support. Many Hacker House alumni still keep in touch and continue to collaborate across projects.

Another observation: many of the hackers were not crypto-native. They came from Web2 backgrounds or were university students exploring new tools. Arweave stands out from many Web3 ecosystems because it has real utility and working technology. Permanent, censorship-resistant data is easy for newcomers to understand. It does for information what Bitcoin did for money.

AO-Core’s use of HTTP messaging also makes it far more accessible to Web2 developers than most Web3 compute systems. It is built on protocols they already know. I suspect that as AO-Core matures, we will see a surge of developers from the Web2 community adopting it because the tech stack feels familiar and approachable.

Lessons for permaweb community building

Here is what I took away:

• Standalone IRL events matter. Arweave Day India was not a side event for a larger crypto conference. It was the main event. Over 250 people showed up specifically to learn about Arweave and AO.

• IRL gatherings create trust and genuine connection. Remote work is great, but people want to meet in person. It gets lonely working from home every day, I know this speaking from experience. Users want to connect with the tools they use, meet the teams, give feedback, and build trust that cannot be replicated online.

• Keep it simple. The Arweave India community started with small meetups, hosted in cafes and coworking spaces. All you need is a few people, Wi-Fi, and a reason to show up.

• Stay true to the values. The Arweave ecosystem still holds to its cypherpunk roots. While many chains chase speculation and hype, the builders I met believe in decentralization, permanence, and individual freedom.

What comes next

HyperBEAM is improving fast. Projects are integrating it into their stacks and migrating away from legacynet. This will significantly improve the user experience across the ecosystem. Now it is time to bring users in.

To support that, Forward Research is launching Permabites, a small grant program to fund local permaweb meetups around the world. These events are designed to help communities share knowledge, demo new tech, and build long-term momentum.

There are also permaweb-friendly offices available for hosting events in New York, San Diego, Lisbon, and Berlin. Anyone, however, is welcome to organize their own meetups wherever they are based.

ao

@aoTheComputer

Introducing Permabites: Community-Driven Growth for the AO Ecosystem

We're excited to launch Permabites, our new grassroots initiative supporting community meetups around the world!

Meet face-to-face with fellow developers, blockchain enthusiasts, and AO community members

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1:39 PM • Apr 28, 2025

If you are in the Northeast

Now that I am back in the Philadelphia area, I will be helping kick off local meetups in Philly and NYC.

If you are a developer, creative, or just permaweb-curious and based in the Northeast, reach out. I would love to connect and start building something local.

Follow @permawebjournal for updates and stay tuned for info on the next round of events.

Let’s build.

All event photos courtesy of @arweaveindia and @onlyarweave.